Brush



Dec. 13, 1927. d652,213

w. F. `PULVER BRUSH `Filed July 2l. 1924 Wil TTOANEY Patented Dec. 13, 1927.

Unirse STATES WYLLIS F. PULVER, OF RENSSELAER, NEW YORK.

BRUSH.

Application meak July v21,

My invention relates to brushes, and more specifically to brushes for cleaning bottles, and receptacles generally, having interior surfaces which. are more or less inaccessible. Many. bottles, for example,` which have necks of small diameter have comparative ly large bodies, and the interior between the neck and body is particularly diflicult. to reach. with a vbottle brush of the ordinary type inserted through the small neck.

The obj ect. of invention is to provide a brushl which may be readily inserted through the small neck of a. bottle but which will expand after passing into the body of the bottle so,V thatv it. may be brought intol contact with' all portionsA of the interior thereof.'

Another object of my invention is to so shape the brushV thatl the bottle may be thoroughly cleaned with a'minimum of manipu-k lation. l

I accomplish the objects by means of the brush hereinafter described, and illustrated in its'preferred forms in the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig.V 1 illustrates a form of'my brush Fig. 2 illustrates a modied form of construction; Figs. 3 ande are a side and front View, respectively, of a spring forming an element of the modified form of brush illustrated in Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a detail of the brush end of the wire handle forming an element of the modified form of brush; Fig.

6 illustrates how my brush may be inserted into the neck of a kbottle which is shown in cross section; Fig. 7 illustrates how, my brush expands after entering the body of the bottle. f

Referring to Fig. 1, my brush comprises a member, 1, composed of wires entwined together to form a cable.v The bristles, 2, are inserted between the strands of the cable, during the entwining operation, to forma brush portion, 3, of any size desired. This method of forming brushes is well known in the art but it is usual to employ a more or less soft, irresilient wire for twisting the cable which when bent ordistorted will not spring back to its original position.

In constructing` my brush, I propose to use a highly elastic or resilient wire of the characier similar to that known in the trade as spring steel wire. It is not so easily 'twisted er" entwined as the soft iron or cop= 1924. serial No. 727,226.

per wire usually employed, and when twistechwill spring back a few turns when the torsion stress is released. .For thisreai son, the resilient wire must be twisted so that thepi'tch of the serpentine is comparatively small when the torsion is released, and so that a slight permanent deformation has` occurred' in the wire.

After the bristles are twisted into the Wire,

Iy prefer to bend the brush substantially as shownin Fig. 1. The extreme end of the' brush or bristled portion is bent around into,- sem'icircular form, as shown. at. 5, and a rather acute bend, 6, is made inthe cable near the other end of the bristled part'. I also prefer to make a slight bend", 7, in the wire cable at or near where the bristled part begins to facilitate they insertion'ofthe brush in the neck of a bottle. In practice, I nd that very satisfactoryresults are obtainedl Fig. 2 illustrates a modified form of my' brush in which a separate resilient element, 10, is employed. The form here shown comprises a comparatively stiff handleportion, 1.1, preferably of twisted wire; a brush portion, 3, preferably formed'by twisting bris- 1tles, 2, into a two strand wire cable, 12;

and a fiat or plate spring, 10, preferably of steel. The ends of the spring are notched, as at 13, and adjacent each end of the spring isa hole, 14, just large enough to receive the wire cable, 12. The strands forming the handle portion are slightlyseparated at the lower, or brush end, as shown in Fig. 5, to form a V shaped notch or fork, 15.. The strands of the handle portion are also separated at a point adjacent the fork to form the opening, 16, large enough to permit the cable to pass through. The distance between the vertex of the notch, 15, and the opening, 16, in the handle, should be equal to the dis-` tance between the vertex of a natali, 13, and

hole, 14 in the spring.

In assembling my modified form of brush, the spring, 10, and the handle, 11, are laid together so that the notch, 15, and opening, 16, in the handle, register With a notch, 13, and hole, 14, respectively, in the spring. The end of cable, 12, is then passed through opening, 16, and hole, 14, in the order named, and the end of the 'cable is clenched in any suitable manner, as at 17. The cable, 12, is then carried around the ends of the handle, 11, and spring, 10, so as to lie in the registered notches, 13 and 15, and is carried along the spring, 10, and bent around the other notched end thereof Where it is secured by passing the end through a hole, 111, and clenching as at 18. The handle, 11, may then bebent substantially as shown in Fig.

I 2 or it may be bent before, or at any convenient time during the assemblingv In practice, I find that very good results are obtained if the angle, 19, between the spring and handle portions, is made about 4-0 degrees, and a slight bend of about 15 degrees, as shown at 20, is made in the handle portion at a point, 21, Where the end, 22, of the spring Will lie When forced over against it. These angles, of course, may be Widely varied to suit different conditions of use and bottles of different shapes and having necks of different size. 'Ihe feature of the bends being to provide a brush Which may be compressed to less than the elastic limit of the 4 metal elements comprising it Whenl forced into the neck of a bottle, 23, as shown in Fig. 6, and which will expand Within the bottle to substantially the shape shown in Fig. 7. It Will also be noted from an examination of Fig. 7 that I have provided a brush Which will reach every part of the interior surface of a bottle With very little manipulation.

What I claim isV 1. A brush comprising a handle portion and a bristled portion disposed at an acute angle thereto to form a V like unit, one side of the V being sufficiently resilient to be compressed adjacent the other side to form' a substantially straight brush adapted for insertion in the neck of a bottle, and which Will return to its original form afterl passing the neck of said bottle.

Q. A bottle brush comprising a handle portion and a resilient bristled portion disposed at an acute angle to the handle por tion and adapted to flex into substantial parallelism with the handle portion, Whereby it may be readily inserted through the neck of a bottle.

3. A brush comprising a cable of resilient Wires forming a handle and having bristles retained between a portion of the strands thereof; a bristled portion of said cable being disposed at an angle to said handle sufficiently acute to permit its being compressed to a position adjacent'said handle Without exceeding the elastic limit of said cable'.

4. A brush comprising a handle portion and a collapsible V shaped, bristle retaining portion of highly resilient material associated therewith. i

5. A bottle brush comprising a handle portion and a normally, V shaped, bristled portion; one side of the V being suiiiciently resilient 'to be compressed substantially against the other side and return to its normal position. j WYLLIS F. PULVER. 

